


Spin

by drugdog



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Multi, Party Games - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-06
Updated: 2016-08-06
Packaged: 2018-07-29 18:14:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7694452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drugdog/pseuds/drugdog
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gene got dragged to this party by Renée, but he can't spend all night eating shrimp.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spin

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AngelicSigils](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelicSigils/gifts).



> birthday fic for my dear bro clara!! hope you enjoy!

A hand on Gene's shoulder makes him look up from the bowl of shrimp that he's been eating out of, more from compulsion than enjoyment, for the past half hour. He's collected a small pile of tails on a paper plate that he's been too anxious to get up and throw away. 

"Hey, Gene come outside, we're gonna play a game," Renée says, smiling down at him. She's the only one he knows here, aside from the various relatives and relatives' relatives sitting outside, and she's not even a friend of choice, she's an old family friend. "You have to meet someone while you're here... and those shrimp are too dead to talk."

She grabs the paper plate in one hand and Gene's wrist in the other before he can resist and anchor himself to his chair. "What game?" he asks, letting her tug him through he house with only minimal resistance. He focuses on how her blue bandana matches with her scarf rather than the anxiety starting to tie knots in his stomach. Renée nudges past someone he doesn't recognize to toss the plate in the trash. 

_I'd rather be there,_ he thinks to himself, only half joking.

"You'll see," Renée says, offering a vague wave with her free hand. "It'll be fun." Gene huffs a sigh and Renée has him out the front door before he can voice any complaints.

Darkness has fallen outside, and crickets chirp to break up the silence of the dry Texas night. Maybe that thirty minutes was longer than he thought. Renée lets go of his wrist and pushes him ahead of her. As he gets further from the walkway and closer to the driveway, he stops hearing crickets. Instead, the all too familiar sound of teenagers laughing greets his ears. "Renée..." he mumbles.

"Oh, quiet. You need to meet some people your age," she chides, and Gene muses, not for the first time, that she's more of a mother figure than anything else to him. Until, that is, she gives him a shove. 

He lands on his hands and knees in a circle of boys, with his nose too close to a two-liter of Coke for comfort. The casual laughter he heard before stops.

Spin the bottle. With people he's never seen before. Of course.

"So, this is Gene," Renée offers, jerking him up by the sleeve of his shirt. Gene takes a quick look around the circle. Five unfamiliar faces greet him. "And Gene, this is Lip," she says, pointing at a skinny white boy with a crescent-shaped scar under his eye, who smiles in the way a shy person does when they're trying to force confidence-

"Ron..." He's lightskin something with a smattering of freckles across his nose and a serious case of resting bitchface-

"Bill..." The name belongs to another white boy, this time with brown hair and one hell of an underbite-

"Joe..." He's Latino, with a strong Spaniard nose and an even bitchier face than Ron-

"Edward-" Renée starts, and is cut off.

"Babe, actually," the boy says, a blush rising over brown skin. He has a shock of red hair and dark eyes that glint under the shine of a streetlight.

"That's just his nickname that somehow manages to be lamer than his actual name," another kid interjects, elbowing Edward in the side. "Call him Babe, it pisses him off."

"Yeah, and should I call you George, Luz?" Edward snaps, elbowing him back with equal ferocity.

Luz rolls his eyes. "Yeah, no. My name's Luz, Gene, and I'm a they, not a he. Don't lump me in with these binary ruffians." They roll their eyes and run their fingers through their brown hair.

"Is there any reason why you introduced the white people first and the not-so-white people last?" Gene asks, a little loosened up from being in Luz's presence. Anyone that's chill with a trans person can't be so bad, he thinks, and I don't even have to out myself to figure that out for once.

There's silence for a moment. Everyone stares like they can't believe he said something after Renée had to introduce him. Gene gives a shaky smile, eyes flitting around, before he catches Bill trying to suppress a smile. Everyone bursts into laughter, and a little bit more of Gene's anxiety melts away.

"Good shit, man," Bill says, reaching across the group to punch him in the shoulder. "Now, c'mon, y'all, shut up, shut up..." He trails off to let out a last laugh. "C'mon, let's go around the circle and see what everyone's comfortable with, yeah? Someone might come outside soon. Renée, go."

Renée smooths a hand down the front of her shirt and rolls her eyes to rival a Hollywood star. "I'll just start by saying I introduced the white boys first because they're the most forgettable, and Gene was probably only paying attention for the first twenty seconds."

"I'm gonna call racism," Luz starts, only to be stopped by another elbow in the kidney from Babe.

"Anyway, I'm good with anything. Don't think there's a lot to be afraid of when most of y'all are queer, so..." Renée gives Lip a light kick in the shin to start him talking.

"I'm good with anything," he says. His hands are behind his back, and Gene sees him picking at the skin of his forearm. He wonders which one of his new acquaintances dragged him out to this party.

Everyone else responds in the same way, Bill grinning like a little kid when he says, "Go fuckin' wild," and the circle comes back to Gene.

"Anything goes," he says, and Luz looses an encouraging whoop.

"I say the new kid spins first, yeah?" Ron says, crossing his arms. He sets Gene with a gaze of steel, and before Gene leans down to spin the bottle, he gives a challenging glare back.

The bottle, full of Coke, doesn't want to spin. Gene has to make a few attempts before he gets it going, scraping around on the concrete driveway. He straightens back up, sending a look around the circle. It could be anyone.

The bottle slows to a crawl, the lid pointing at Gene for so long sweat starts to bead on his forehead. Then, with some second wild, it rolls to land on Renée.

"Of course," Gene says, turning to her. He leans in as she does, pressing their lips together. She's almost like a sister to him, and he's gay to boot. It's nothing short of wrong. Renée slips him a little tongue and Gene jumps away.

"Uh, I think I'm a little too gay for that," Gene stammers, sending another round of laughter throughout the group. "Well, Renée, it's your turn." He kicks at the bottle, mouth tingling. It's been a while since he's kissed anyone.

The bottle's end lands on Luz. "Ay, mamãe," they say, opening their arms wide and beckoning Renée into them. She gives them a peck on the lips, they nip back, and everyone "ooh"s. The sounds only get louder when she steps back, sets her hands on their chest, and shoves them onto their ass. "Hey, fuck you," Luz whines without any heat, "I thought you'd like a little Latino fire."

"Everyone's gotten a little Latino fire from your mom," Bill says, and Joe reaches over to high five him. "And I just got more Latino fire from Joe's high five than anyone could ever get from you."

"Again, I call discrimination," Luz cries, standing and brushing themself off. They lean down and spin anyway despite their wounded act.

It lands between Ron and Lip. Lip's cheeks flare up in an instant, making his scar stand out even more. "So... Who kisses who?" Ron asks.

Babe and Bill share a glance and Babe speaks up. "Y'all should like, touch tongues or some shit. And then whoever wants to go should go."

Ron makes a big show of sighing and wrapping an arm around Lip's shoulders to tug him into the middle of the circle. Luz joins them, they all stick out their tongues, making disgusted faces as they touch them together. They glint under the light like fat snakes, and Gene grimaces at the mental image.

Luz breaks away first and pushes Ron and Lip's heads together, smashing their mouths together so hard Gene hears their teeth click. "That was weird as shit," they say, "like, it's all veiny."

Ron smacks Luz upside the head. "Yeah, yours felt like a fuckin' worm it's so... long... and flexible." He was trying for a drag, but it falls flat. 

"Uh, yeah, I have a disgustingly flexible tongue, and it's not the only part of my body that is," they say, offering him a wink. "Now, which of you's gonna go next?"

Lip gives Ron a look, transferring emotions and thoughts in a split second, and Ron raises his hand. "I'll go," he says, bends down, and spins.

The bottle drags to a halt on Gene. Gene leans in without giving himself time to angst about the look Ron gave him earlier, pushing his tongue into Ron's mouth almost as soon as their lips meet. There's a little stubble on his jaw, scratching and itching Gene's face. They kiss, both attempting to one-up each other with jabs of their tongues and tilts of their heads, until Ron pulls back for air.

"Your mouth tastes good," Ron says, eyebrows raised.

"Thanks," Gene says, face going hot. "I'm, uh, wearing eos, the tangerine flavor."

"I wanna taste it," Babe pipes up, taking Gene's attention off Ron.

"We'll see," Gene says. He bites down on his lower lip and spins the bottle. By some twist of fate, it lands on Babe, and he leans in, placing a hand on Babe's cheek and kissing him.

His mouth is warm and _good,_ sweet from what tastes like Coke. Gene leans in closer, opening up his mouth under Babe. Babe wraps an arm around his waist, pressing their bodies together. "Leave room for Jesus!" Luz yells, but Gene's too focused on the boy in front of him making his mouth feel like it's ascending into heaven.

Renée yanks Gene back and he takes in a heavy gasp of air, refilling burning lungs. "Your mouth does taste good," Babe says, eyes still trained on his lips. Bill smacks him on the back and Babe spins the bottle.

Babe kisses Bill, and Bill kisses Joe, but all Gene can think about is the feeling he got when he kissed Babe. The only thing he picked up was that Bill and Joe seemed all too into it.

"What can I say?" Bill says, shrugging. The sound of his voice breaks "We spend most of our time doing that anyway. He was my first kiss back in, like, seventh grade." He's giving off an air of confidence, but Gene sees a hint of uncertainty in his eyes.

"That's gay, dude. Just spin the fuckin' bottle, Joe." Luz kicks it in Joe's direction. "God, that shit is gonna be so fucking fizzy if anyone opens it."

Joe spins it and lands on Babe. They share a quick kiss right over Bill. "Ain't that cute," Bill says. "My two hoes kissin'. I feel like a rap star or somethin'."

Gene laughs, but he's focused on Babe. By luck of the draw, they could kiss again. 

And as luck of the draw has it- Gene almost doesn't notice because he's staring at the bottle, willing it to work in his favor- they're going to.

Babe pulls him in, hooking an arm around the back of his neck. Gene's hands find Babe's sides. There's silence from the group as they kiss, since they're the most into it than anyone else has been so far, with Bill and Joe as close seconds. Gene only stops when he feels everyone's eyes burning into him. He hears a muffled, "That's kinda hot," from Luz, and another muffled sound as someone smacks them. He steps back to Renée's side, smiling and blushing.

"You spin, loverboy," Renée sings.

The bottle lands on Lip. Gene kisses him without Lip even leaning in to meet him, coaxing him out of his shell with every gentle movement of his mouth. By the time he's moving away, Lip's kissing with confidence, even if he's a little sloppy with the tongue.

Lip kisses Ron next, and in front of everyone, Ron lifts Lip up by the backs of his thighs and spins him around. Lip crosses his ankles behind Ron's waist, tangling a hand in his curly hair. They just beat Bill and Joe into third place.

Ron sets Lip down with a sly smile. His hair is a little mussed, and Lip looks proud at having done that.

"After that mess, I think half of you are getting too horny to continue," Luz butts in. "Everyone who hasn't kissed each other, just kiss each other and get it over with. My mouth is actually getting a little numb."

Gene kisses Bill and Luz, both remarking on the taste of his chapstick. He watches everyone else go through their rounds, ten times happier and a hundred times less anxious than he started. Instead of those lame icebreaker games at school, we should have spin the bottle, Gene thinks. This is a lot more fun.

The group breaks up into its own individual clusters. Gene picks up the Coke, admiring the scratches it got from scraping along the concrete. This is a night he won't be forgetting.

"Okay, Ron's giving Lip a ride home, but I don't think he'll just be riding on Ron's passenger seat," Renée says, getting everyone's attention on her. "Bill, Joe, Babe, Gene, you're all with me. Oh, and Luz, you're with Ron, too."

They pack into Renée's tiny car, Gene in shotgun and Babe squeezed in between Bill and Joe. He's silent on the ride home, half-listening to everyone else's chatter and getting lost in his own thoughts. He hadn't been kissed in a long time before the game- back in eighth grade is the last time that comes to mind, and Gene's a sophomore.

After Babe, though, he's not sure he wants to kiss anyone else.

Renée's car jolts to a halt outside of a church. Houses are on the other side of a brick wall. "Thanks for inviting us over," Bill says, opening up the car door and sliding out. "And thanks for pulling up the back way. My mom woulda lost her shit if we got back this late." 

The boys spill out of the car, and Bill and Joe race each other to the wall, scrambling over it into Bill's backyard.

"What, no good night kiss?" Gene calls after Babe, shocking himself by blurting it out.

Babe turns around and comes back, leaning into the window of the car. "Hey, no tongue. And you know, that eos was so good, I think I'm gonna get that same o-"

Gene cuts him off with a kiss and Babe leans in. He breaks off too soon to make Gene's brain short circuit, but he still stares after Babe as he sprints to catch up with Bill and Joe.

"So, I'll give you his number, yeah?" Renée says, amused.

"Yeah," Gene says, clutching the bottle of Coke to his chest. "That would be great."

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on tumblr @narcoticsdog  
> (this is based off a true story from my friends graduation party, but i unfortunately did not fall in love with the guy i was sucking face with, like gene did.)


End file.
